the woes of overcommitment

I fell asleep while making a pumpkin pie today. The pie did not survive. I will be buying a different sort of pie on the way to my dinner commitment tomorrow.

The fact that I sat down for a minute and then awoke disoriented two hours later reinforces my conclusion that it is time to lighten the schedule (and also that my oven timer should really beep more than once). I am the master of overcommitment. Why have one job when you can have three?? I actually reduced from three jobs to two back in April, when two of my jobs promoted me to higher hours and responsibilities. Somehow my new schedule was even more work than the old one. At the beginning of 2014 I managed to write a book on a series of hard-won Saturdays. After April… nada.

So. In three weeks I am leaving my afternoon job. I gave three months’ notice. It took them two months to post the job. I’ve spent those two months panicking over how I can possibly convey a building full of information to somebody I may or may not even meet before I leave. But I think I’ve come to terms with the situation. I’m constructing a “how to” binder full of everything I can think of, and if my successor chooses to consult it their life will be much easier. I’ll leave my email behind in case of emergency, but otherwise I’m a free woman come 2015.

Well, except for the morning job. And the writing goals. And the impending baby. A baby is kind of like having an afternoon job, right? … RIGHT??

I think I’ll keep taking naps while I can.

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P.S. Randy has been rereading Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian” and suggests that I start every section of the work binder, “My dear and unfortunate successor.” I wholly approve of this plan.